1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system and method for automatically determining the status of a traffic control signal and more particularly the invention relates to a system for monitoring and recording the status of a traffic signal by observing the light emitted from one or more traffic lights and using the resultant information as input to a traffic monitoring system in a controlled intersection.
2. Background of the Invention
Installing a red light photo-enforcement system in an intersection involves digging the road and pavement in order to install cables for interfacing the violation detecting/recording system with the traffic light controller for synchronization. This requirement makes the red light photo-enforcement system a permanent installation for a specific approach at an intersection. The disclosed invention eliminates the need for a cable connection between a light controller and a photo-enforcement system in order to communicate the status of the traffic signal. The state of the traffic signal can be determined remotely by using an optical system coupled to individual detectors or a CCD (charge-coupled device) image recorder as a remote traffic light sensor.